Members and Cooperators

When someone asks for admission to the
Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, he does so through a deep conviction of
God’s call to seek sanctity in the middle of the world according to the spirit
of Opus Dei.

As the vocation is the same for all the
members, the effort to seek sanctity has to be likewise the same. Thus there
are not distinct grades of membership, but rather different circumstances that are
reflected in one’s availability to take part and assist in the activities of
the Society.

Numerary and coadjutor members are
drawn from the Prelature’s lay faithful (Numeraries and Associates), who
receive Holy Orders after the necessary preparation. They are incorporated into
the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross upon their ordination as deacons.

As for priests already incardinated in a
diocese, incorporation as an Associate or Supernumerary will depend on their
greater or lesser possibility of assisting the association (especially in
helping other diocesan priests spiritually), in accord with their personal
circumstances of health or character, their pastoral tasks, family obligations,
etc.

Logically, these priests belong exclusively
to the presbyterate of their own diocese. They do not become part of the
Prelature’s clergy (made up only of those incardinated in it), nor do they have
a hierarchical bond with the Prelature or depend on any ecclesiastical superior
in Opus Dei.

Their relationship to the President General
of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross (the Prelate of Opus Dei) is of an
associative nature. That is, the President has no governmental authority over
the diocesan priests who belong to the Society, but only whatever role the head
of an association of clergy would have. Therefore, the Society’s priests who
are incardinated in their respective dioceses, while having the same call to
live the spirit of Opus Dei as any of the faithful of the Prelature, are in no
way under the Prelate’s jurisdiction.

In the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross
there is only the normal discipline that binds any kind of association in view
of the obligation to observe its own norms and customs, which refer only to the
spiritual life.

The juridical and affective bond with the
diocese in which they are incardinated and with the other members of their
presbyterate is reinforced, since the spirit they receive from Opus Dei leads
them to seek Christian holiness and human perfection precisely in the faithful
discharge of their priestly duties.

Those who ask for admission to the Priestly
Society of the Holy Cross must stand out for their love for their diocese, their
obedience and veneration for their bishop, their eagerness to promote vocations
to the seminary and other institutions in the Church, and their desire to
fulfill with maximum perfection their ministerial tasks. At the same time, they
must promote in a positive way fraternity among all the members of their
presbyterate, as well as hierarchical communion with their own bishop and with
the other pastors in the Church, especially the Roman Pontiff.

Without being members of the Priestly
Society of the Holy Cross, other priests may take part in the means of
formation offered, assist in the apostolates of the Prelature and the Priestly Society
with their prayers, alms, and, if possible, with their pastoral ministry. These
priests are called Cooperators.